The present invention relates to window coverings, and in particular, to a coextruded vertical blind louver having at least one pearlescent surface.
Vertical blinds are well known in the field of interior decorating. They are similar to fabric drapes in that they are generally used to cover a window or a sliding glass door. Like fabric drapes, they may be center opening or side opening. The center opening vertical blind opens in the middle of the blind and the two halves withdraw to the two sides of the window to leave a center opening. The side opening vertical blind withdraws from one side to the other side of the window to leave a side opening.
Vertical blinds differ from fabric drapes in that the vertical blind contains a plurality of individual vanes or louvers which are similar to the slats of a venetian blind. However, the venetian blind has slats which are horizontal whereas the vertical blind has vertically suspended slats. Moreover, the vertical blind differs from the fabric drape in that the vertical blind may be at least partially open when, in fact, it remains closed. This is accomplished by a mechanical means whereby the individual vanes or louvers of the vertical blind, which are hanging suspended from overhead, may be turned from a fully open to a fully closed position while the entire blind remains fully extended across the window or door. In addition, the vertical blind may be adjusted so that the individual louvers or vanes are oriented in a position which is intermediate to being turned fully opened or fully closed. In this manner, the vertical blind has a maximum flexibility for keeping sunlight out of the room. For this reason, the vertical blind has gained great popularity at the expense of the conventional fabric drape.
Vertical blinds currently are available with vertical louvers which fall into four major categories. The louvers may be free hanging fabric, fabric supported on a rigid vinyl shell, aluminum or rigid vinyl. Each of these four types of louvers may display different colors and patterns according to the taste of the individual purchaser. It is estimated that rigid vinyl louvers presently account for about 35 percent of all sales of vertical blinds. These louvers are produced from a rigid vinyl containing a pigmentation system which makes the louver highly opaque in order to reduce light transmission.
One type of rigid vinyl vane or louver which is popular is a louver which has side edges which include longitudinal slots or grooves running along the full length of the louver. These slots are open to the center web of the louver and are adapted to receive a color insert. The color insert may be pushed into the slots at one end of the louver and then slid along the louver surface until the color insert covers the full length and width of the louver with a new color or pattern. This allows the vertical blind owner to redecorate at his convenience. The owner can paint his room a new color and then, by use of new inserts, he can change the color of his vertical blind to conform to or contrast with the new color of the room. This grooved louver thus affords the owner maximum flexibility in color coordinating the vertical blind according to his needs or his whim.
Some louvers have side edges which contain grooves on both surfaces of the louver. Such louvers can have a color insert of a first color on one side and a second color on the other side. Thus, the owner of the vertical blind can have one color exposed to the room and the second color exposed to the window and as he may desire. The owner may then adjust the vertical blind to reposition the individual louvers so that the colors are reversed without changing the color inserts.
The grooved louvers described above normally have a central section or base web of a rigid vinyl which is pigmented and opaque to minimize light transmission. The grooved or slotted edges, however, are generally rigid vinyl of a clear and transparent type. This clear and transparent vinyl is used so that the edge portion of the color insert which is held in the slot or groove remains visible to the viewer.
One desirable color characteristic for a vertical blind louver would be to have a pearlescent finish on a rigid vinyl louver. As used herein, the term "pearlescent" is defined as having the sheen and luster of a pearl. In addition to the oyster pearl of jewelry, certain shellfish, such as abalone, have a pearlescent inner surface of the shell. Also, the scales of certain fish, such as herring, are pearlescent. The luster of the classical oyster pearl of jewelry is generally seen as a silverywhite. However, jewelry pearls can have a lustrous cast such as a yellow or a rose tint. In a similar manner, a pearlescent rigid vinyl louver having a color also would be a desirable product.
Many attempts have been made in the past to imitate the light reflective characteristics of the natural pearl. Pearl essences have been originally prepared in the past largely from the scales of certain fishes. Nacreous essences prepared from this natural material are very expensive because of the complicated series of operations which is required in their preparation. The characteristic material of fish scales which imparts a pearly iridescence to plastics is guanine.
In those coating compositions which are designed to imitate the pearl finish, the index of refraction of the pearlescent pigment and the plastic carrier must be different. In the case of guanine, the index of refraction is generally so high relative to the index of refraction of the plastic binder that the material containing guanine is pearlescent to a desirable degree when utilizing a relatively small amount of guanine. More recently, various other materials possessing a flat crystalline lamellar plate-like structure, including mica, have been used with varying degrees of success.
Thus, pearlescent vinyl can currently be manufactured and is commercially available. However, when such pearlescent vinyl products are used in a vertical blind louver, pigmentation systems must be added to increase the opacity to the level necessary for use in a vertical blind. Unfortunately, the addition of the pigmentation system to the pearlescent vinyl covers up the pearlescent pigment, thereby masking and destroying the original pearlescence of the vinyl. Therefore, in order to obtain a pearlescent color effect, one must use a transparent vinyl with a transparent dye, and this fails to provide the opacity which is required so that the vertical blind will not transmit light when the blind is closed and the individual louvers are also oriented in a closed position. Such opacity is necessary in a vertical blind louver in order to provide the privacy which is desired when closing the window covering.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an opaque vertical blind louver having a pearlescent luster.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an opaque vertical blind louver having a colored pearlescent luster.
These and other objects of the invention, as well as the advantages thereof, will become more clear from the disclosure which follows.